Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Can I use the same text in my meta description as I put in my post excerpt?
-
Hi,
I'm just trying to understand the right way to optimise my blog posts and this is likely a dumb question... but to what extent should the text in my meta description differ from the text in my post excerpts?
cheers, Andrew
-
Wouldn't recommend using exactly the same text. Always try to avoid duplicate texts anywhere on the web. I know it's a lot of work to write a blog post, an excerpt and a meta description text but it's worth the effort as long as the content you write is of good quality.
-
I agree. Each should target it's purpose. If they are the same, fine, if not, fine too. My excerpts are usually longer than my meta descriptions and for that reason alone they are typically different, but it's not my objective to make them different.
Best,
Christopher -
Hi Christopher
I am not aware of any specific tests, but In my experience I would say that it will depend. Sometimes you may not want a too long of a url string, while your title could technically be long and yet visually fit nicely on page.
But for SEO purposes and for ranking, it definitely helps in my opinion to include the proper long tail kw string of focus in both url and page title tag. Those are among the most worth on-page cues one can utilize for best results.
-
The meta description is the description that is usually displayed in the search results (usually, because Google can change it to whatever they want). It has absolutely zero impact on your SEO rankings. What you want to do with the meta description is make it compelling so that people will click through to your site. Approach it like you approach writing copy for an Adwords ad.
The excerpt (I'm assuming you're using Wordpress) is the snippet of text that appears on category pages and other archive pages on your site. Usually, this is just the first several lines of your post, but you can customize this to be a short summary of the content of the post. The summary approach is better from an SEO perspective since it is unique content, and may be a better experience for your users as well. However, writing a custom excerpt for each and every post can take time & resources, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether it's worth the effort.
-
My excerpts do not appear anywhere on the page. They appear on the category page that links to the page.
Best,
Christopher -
The post excerpt is likely the first paragraph or so of your post, and often times doesn't include your target keywords and is not a good preview of what the post is all about.
You should tailor your meta description to potential readers. Give them a reason to click through and read your article.
Your Open Graph description should also be tailored for social networks to promote sharing. This description is likely different than your meta description and probably much different then your post excerpt.
-
Hi Omid, has someone tested same vs different to show that one is better than the other?
Best,
Christopher -
not identical text. best is not to do that. however, you should and are encouraged to use the same targeted keywords in meta description and post excerpt and if fitting ,post url and title. try to avoid identical strings of words, no identical sentences, stay unique in each readable text section as much as possible, while holding on to your desire kw.
title and url being the same is perfectly ok.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Product Descriptions (SEO)
So I would like a few opinions. How long should a product description be? Enough to get the point across? 100 words? 800 words? Over detailed? Any advice would be appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | mattl990 -
Does using Yoast variables for meta content overwrite any pages that already have custom meta content?
The question is about the Yoast plugin for WP sites. Let's say I have a site with 200 pages and custom meta descriptions / title tags already in place for the top 30 pages. If I use the Yoast variable tool to complete meta content for the remaining pages (and make my Moz issue tracker look happier), will that only affect the pages without custom meta descriptions or will it overwrite even the pages with the custom meta content that I want? In this situation, I do want to keep the meta content that is already in place on select pages. Thanks! Zack
On-Page Optimization | | rootandbranch0 -
Can I put the company name in the image alt text instead of just the service type im trying to rank for?
Hello, if I am trying to rank for a service type and the exact phrase is in the companies name, can I put the company name in the image alt text instead of just the service type? Seizing the opportunity to get another mention of the businesses name...two birds with the one stone if you will... For example, "lawn cutting" being the service type but the company's name is Paul's lawn cutting. Could i put Pauls Lawn Cutting in the image alt text, or just stick to lawn cutting? Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | Gavinn0 -
Using keywords in my URL: Doing a redirect to /keyword
My website in "On Page Grade" received an A.Anyway, I only have 1 thing to optimize:_"Use Keywords in your URL__Using your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links."_My website is ranking in top10 for a super high competitive keyword and all my others competitors have the keyword on their domain, but not for my URL.Since I can't change my domain for fixing this suggestion, I would like to know what do you think about doing a 301 redirect from / to mydomainname.com/keyword/So the index of my website would be the /keyword.I don't know if this can make a damage to my SERP for the big change ir it would be a great choice.
On-Page Optimization | | estebanseo0 -
Meta descriptions for subpages in the SERPs
Hey Mozzers! Something occurred to me the other day was that, while we can write title tags and meta descriptions to be within the character count and therefore appear nice and neatly in the SERPs, when Google et al decide to pull subpages out as further site links, it seems to still pull the normal meta description but with a far lower character count. As this looks untidy and could potentially impact CTR, is there a way I can amend the preferred text for the shortened version, via Webmaster Tools, for example? Thanks in advance for your help! Nick.
On-Page Optimization | | themegroup0 -
SEO can id and class be used in H1?
Can ID and class be used in my H1 tag. I realize best case would be to change it, but it's going to require a change order from the ecommerce company to fix their sloppy code. Will this hurt seo? Example:
On-Page Optimization | | K-WINTER0 -
Can I use the first sentence of my page content as a meta description tag as well?
I just want to copy my content on the page and use the first or as well the second sentence of the content self for my meta description tag. Is that OK? Or should the Meta description tag be different?
On-Page Optimization | | paulinap19830